


Never Fight Fair

by bethesdad



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Barebacking, Gay and Sad Combo, M/M, Submissive Robert, uhhh idk it's actually kind of vanilla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-09 00:42:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11658051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethesdad/pseuds/bethesdad
Summary: Same dadsona as last time, different AU. Remi went Robert's route instead of Craig's. Also this is the product of someone asking me to write a fic for each dad where Remi tops. ;^) / It'd been quite a while since Amanda's graduation party, and Remi is trying to accept that Robert may not be ready for a relationship any time soon. He wants what's best for Robert, but sometimes it's hard to hide what he wants. Also? Amanda is catching onto Remi's feelings for Robert. Oh no.





	Never Fight Fair

 

Bitter and tough on the outside, but sweet and soft on the inside. Now, we all know what that sounds like; it’s a vague, sloppy poetic metaphor for Robert Small, the least easy-going guy in Maple Bay, the talk of the town when it came to trouble makers. But… In reality, it was a perfect and quite frankly realistic explanation of what Remi’s fork was sinking into. Come on now, not everything in life is a damn metaphor. He let out a long, blissful sigh at the wonderfully cinammon-y, sugary smell of the bite of baked apple he was bringing to his lips. It’d been out of the oven for a solid five minutes, and in Remi’s opinion that was plenty of waiting. He was ready to eat this goddamn fruit based confection now.

 

He and Amanda often enjoyed diving into new baking experiments together, and so doing just that became a tradition for them every year when Manda-Panda came back for Christmas. Some years they went all-out and did something fancy like cheese fondue, others they settled for something much simpler- such as the small hand-held pies known as baked apples. Ah, and sometimes the finer things in life just so happen to pale in comparison to the cheap stuff…

 

Now that- that was a metaphor right there. Robert most certainly could be seen from that perspective; in the sense that the more well-rounded, wealthy dads such as Joseph represented the finer things, while Robert’s rough edges and tough love made him more akin to the cheap stuff. All the while the thoughts of that cryptic-hunting, knife-toting handsome son of a bitch floated around in Remi’s head, he slowly went about eating his winter-themed treat. Perhaps too slowly. From across the table, his attention was finally caught by the sound of Amanda dropping her fork onto the wooden table. His eyes snapped up, focusing on her with high brows.

 

Amanda seemed to be glaring at him with terribly piercing eyes. “Dad…” She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. “You’re doing that thing again.”

 

“What thing?” Remi asked, setting down his forkful of dessert and giving Amanda a frustrated, curious grimace.

 

She did nothing but scoff and roll her eyes, which made Remi instinctively clench his fists. No, no, not because he was going to punch her- tightening his hands into fists was a natural reaction he had when he got uncomfortable or angry, it wasn’t something he did consciously. All of his days of being nothing more than a man of violence led to him having quite a few ticks that, while imply the possibility of violence, don’t often lead to it.

 

“You know what thing,” Amanda responded, her tongue sharpening into a tone that Remi most certainty didn't like hearing from his daughter.

 

An audible huff left her large father’s nose, and he forced his eyes to dart to the far left wall so that he didn’t stare at Amanda so hard he burned a hole through her face. Everyone knew that only the strongest of dads had laser vision, it was common sense. Amanda took notice of the avoidance, and her nose crunched with irritation. They sat in bitter silence for what only amounted to about 30 seconds. “Child, I can’t read your mind. I’m a dumb old man, you gotta tell me what you’re thinking. I’m willin’ to work shit out with you, y’know, but I can’t do that if you won’t tell me what the hell I’m doin’ wrong in the first place.”

 

Amanda let out a loud groan and leaned her head back, staring up at the ceiling, putting herself in the most dramatic position she could muster while sitting at a dinner table. “Jeeeeez-- Okay, I thought you’d catch on easier,” she snapped. Remi had half a mind to snap right back and send her ass to bed, but he kept his lips shut tight. No need to start a fight- yet. He knew from experience that starting an argument now wouldn’t solve anything, he might as well let Amanda speak, even if what she had to say was particularly sour. “Like, see…” She looked down from the ceiling and at Remi, who was glaring back at this point. “You do this thing where you totally zone out, and like… Everybody does that, I know. I do it a lot too. But the thing is: it’s not a normal zoning out, cause I know exactly what you’re thinking about. And I know exactly what you’re gonna do because of it.”

 

Remi quirked a curious brow. What the hell was she getting at with this? “Okay, then tell me, miss know-it-all. What am I gonna do?”

 

There wasn’t a moment of hesitation from Amanda. “You’re gonna call Robert.”

 

...Well, for some reason hearing that from his kid stung like a bitch. Remi wasn’t exactly sure why, either- maybe it was the foul reminder that no matter what he did, he was drawn to Robert like a moth to flame, or that Amanda was acutely aware of his habits regarding sucking attention out of their neighbor. Maybe it was just the simple fact that Remi was becoming aware of his own habits, and no less his feelings, and yet Robert still insisted that he stayed single in pursuit of mending his broken heart. Remi understand loud and clear that Robert genuinely needed time to heal, and he was proud of the man for taking the initiative, but… God, there was still something that hurt so bad about seeing Robert all the time and wanting to kiss those lips so terribly and knowing that it wasn’t the right time. There was a nasty anxiety that nestled in his stomach from time to time, one that asked the question “when will Robert be ready?” At the end of the day, the best solution was for Remi to make peace with the scenario that Robert may never be ready. Likelihood was that one day he would be, but-- Remi should prepare for the worst case scenario.

 

Drawing in a deep sigh, Remi leaned back in his chair and stared down at the half-eaten dessert in front of him. All of the sudden, his raging appetite for sweets had died down. “You don’t know that,” Remi replied, speaking impulsively before he thought out just how childish that sounded. “I won’t call h-” he stopped himself and shook his head briefly, “You know what? I don’t think this is your business anyway,” Remi established, locking his eyes with Amanda’s with the sort of stare that she _knew_ not to fuck with. Her dad was a caring man, he always tried to do what was best for her, but through the process of growing up she learned that there was something angry underneath his skin. He had a terrible past tucked under his belt, pushed under the rug and forgotten in the pursuit of being a good father. But… In some cases, when some certain buttons were pushed, that sense of aggression and dominance bubbled to the surface. Remi wasn’t proud of it, nor did he want it, but it was an instinct- something dug deep into his brain that he couldn’t simply uncover or overwrite.

 

Amanda sat silently on the other side of the table, feeling her muscles tighten up to a point where her shoulders were trembling. She wasn’t… Wasn’t exactly scared of Remi as a whole, but she was afraid of an angry reaction. It’d been years, so many years, since Remi last lashed out, but nevertheless the prospect of it happening again was daunting. She didn’t want to lose the impression of her dad as he was; a good man who cared about his family more than anything. He wasn’t what he used to be, which was a selfish man who often lost himself in his anger.

 

The silence finally broke, however. “I think you should just go to your room,” Remi said through gritted teeth. He wasn’t blind to the severity of this situation either, he could feel deep down in his bones that there was a bitterness festering in him. A bitterness that was left over from his younger years, a flurry of emotions he’d simply never moved on from. He didn’t want these feelings to come out… Amanda didn’t deserve that. “Please.”

 

Clearing her throat nervously and pushing herself away from the table, Amanda nodded. She turned to walk into the hallway toward her room, and sped away as quickly as she could while still maintaining a walking pace. Just as she reached her door, and her hand gripped the doorknob, she glanced over her shoulder back at Remi. “Night, dad,” she said blankly, just loud enough for Remi to make out what she’d said.

 

He didn’t wanna say another word to Amanda right now, not out of existing anger but out of fear of becoming more angry… Regardless, he had to say something and he couldn’t just bite his tongue on this. “Night. Love you, Amanda,” he said, his voice deep and gruff, however not necessarily apathetic. The tone of voice he held in his throat was particularly intimidating, but that was just the way Remi was sometimes. People are what they are. Once those words met his daughter’s ears, she slipped into her room and closed the door behind her. Once he heard that familiar slam of wood colliding against wood, Remi sighed and dropped his head into his hands. Jesus Christ… Why was this so goddamn stressful? Just the mention of Robert shouldn’t have brought up such a reaction. It sent Remi’s thoughts in a tailspin- was all of this over Amanda or was it over that goddamn drunk he was swooning over?

 

Despite the sense of nausea settling in his gut, Remi picked up his fork and started to eat away at his baked apple again. It was mostly cold by now, a little lukewarm in the center, but he didn’t particularly care. He just sorta… Wanted to eat something sweet, because as we all know sugar is the glue that holds the heart together. Well, maybe Craig didn’t know that yet, but he’d figure it out sooner or later. Remi knew one day he’d win that man over and teach him to enjoy food. But… That was aside the point right now, in this very moment he wanted to just enjoy this tasty, fruity, spicy, soft, crispy....

 

Fuck. Fuck he couldn’t focus. He took bigger bites and at faster speeds, hoping to drown out his thoughts with the sensation of delicious apple pie-esque flavor, but no matter how hard he tried to just think about this goddamn food, he couldn’t chase away his other trains of thoughts. Then… Then, dear god, the unspeakable happened. His fork went down to grab another piece of baked apple, and all he was met with was the clink of his metal fork hitting porcelain. He felt his heart drop. Looking down at his plate, Remi saw exactly what he anticipated- an empty plate save for a few crumbs and a little bit of excess apple juice. He let out a long, dramatized sigh. Great, now he actually had to face his feelings.

 

Actually, scratch that. Not wanting to face the reality of his long-gone apple, Remi set down his fork on the small plate and stood up from the table. He didn’t bother pushing his seat back in, much less taking his dishes to the kitchen, and lazily walked himself over to the couch. He flopped down on the cushions with a grunt, and immediately after let out a quiet groan. Well. This was where he’d probably spend the rest of the night. He didn’t mind that at all, in the aftermath of negative emotions all Remi seemed to want to do was laze around and ignore the world outside. Or.. get laid.. But that was a less likely option, so he would settle with being a couch potato.

 

Remi switched on the TV and sunk into the cushions, zoning out into a state of abysmal nothingness. He ended up watching Meat Hell, an absolutely ridiculous and yet oh-so entertaining cooking show. Usually, it would earn a chuckle from him every now and again, especially when someone dropped ingredients on the floor and proceeded to slip on them, but… Today, his face remained a stone wall. His brows were low, lips held tight, eyes locked in a seemingly dead stare. By just a glance, one could see that his eyes were transparent, not in a literal sense, but in the metaphorical sense, his eyes were staring at the TV but his focus was somewhere else entirely.

 

He stayed in that position, limp on the sofa, for nearly three hours straight before he did even the slightest movement. Even then, all the movement ended up being was him shuffling his shoulder because it’d gotten tight in the position he was laying in. He grunted as he moved his arm, quickly finding that he still wasn’t comfortable. Ugh, what a terrible fate, being in the wrong position on the couch. Remi turned himself over onto his side, letting out a sigh as his body weight pushed down on the shoulder beneath him. Okay… This wasn’t much better, but at this point he decided he’d moved far too much and he was going to accept things as they were now.

 

As the minutes drained away like grains of sand in an hour glass, the bitter feelings of repressed anger and guilt started to fade. They weren’t gone entirely, and nor were they replaced by anything necessarily happier. Contrary to popular belief, sometimes the sunshine isn’t immediately after the rain. First, we have to wait for the clouds to roll away. In the place of his aggression, a sense of distaste for himself and exhaustion rose. He felt bitter and dare he say disgusted with himself, however wasn’t able to pinpoint exactly why. It just… Was what it was. Maybe it just bothered him that he still had a potential for outbreaks of anger.

 

The biggest unfortunate truth about this situation, though, was that no matter how long Remi pressed his eyes closed and calmed his breathing, he couldn’t sleep. Eventually, he just stopped trying, deciding to instead stare at the TV with sore, bloodshot eyes. He was exhausted, yes, but it seemed that sleep wasn’t  something he body was going to permit. He let out a long sigh and tried to accept his fate. Looks like tonight was going to be one depressing hell of an all-nighter.

 

Midnight rolled around and passed by quicker than he expected, and next thing he knew it was 1:30AM. Great. By this time at night, and knowing by this point that lying on the couch watching TV he didn’t care about would get him nothing but a sore back, he figured it may be time to shove himself off to bed. He wouldn’t sleep there either, but hey, it may be more comfortable. With a quiet groan, he sat himself up on the couch and stretched his arms over his head. A yawn pushed up his chest and forced his jaws apart, erupting like a lion’s roar. More like a dad’s roar. “Hmph.. Where’s my…” He murmured under his breath, eyes surveying the couch around him. No cellular device in sight. His brows furrowed and he started to rub his hands all about the cushions, hoping to touch the plastic corner of his phone case. Nothing yet.

 

Remi started to dig his hands into the spaces between couch cushions, cringing so hard he felt it in his soul when his fingertips brushed crumbs that were forever lost in the depths of the sofa. Maybe he and Amanda should stop eating cookies on the couch so often… But, ah, that was beside the point- what mattered right now was finding his phone. He shuffled and rummaged for another several minutes, becoming progressively more frustrated every time he came out empty-handed. Maybe it’d fallen onto the-

 

_Buzz buzz._

 

Oh, well, never mind. Remi knew where it was now. Feeling a wave of shame wash over him, he reached into his own back pocket, yanking out his phone and holding it in front of his face. It was kinda warm from being pressed up against his ass for hours, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The brightness was way too high for this time of night, the screen’s light forced his eyes to squint and brows to push down low. He grumbled as his eyes struggled to focus on the small device, mustering all of the strength in his old dad eyes to comprehend what was on his phone screen.

 

TEXT: Hey. Remi.

 

Who was this from-- Remi went ahead and checked the contact name attached to the message. Oh. Oh fuck. Remi felt his heart skip a beat and wished he had just fallen asleep several hours ago. The coincidental nature of this situation was almost comedic, the way it was all so predictable and yet the opposite of what should have happened. It was Robert. What should he even do in this situation? There was some part of him that wanted to see Robert so badly, knowing that’d make him feel better even if it wasn’t the best choice for him, but there some spiteful edge to his thoughts that wanted to stick it to Amanda. He, at least partially, wanted to show her he could stay away from Robert if he really wanted to.

 

[ROBERT] TEXT: Don’t pretend to sleep. Your account says you’re online.

 

Well fuck, Robert, that’s pretty persistent. Remi bit his lip, holding his phone still in dead silence. He thought… There’s only a few things Robert would want Remi for, and there was a solid 70% it involved sex. Ah, but then again, why would he bother to check if he was online or not if all he wanted was to get laid- there were other people he could get good dick from. If Remi didn’t respond, it wouldn’t normally be much of a big deal. Robert wasn’t a one-man type guy, he could get around if he wanted to. Remi drew in a long breath… Fuck, what to do.

 

[REMI] TEXT: Hey.

 

Well, that was his decision. Bad as it might be, and as questionable as the conclusion may become, he’d made his choice and he was going to roll with it.

 

[ROBERT] TEXT: Knew you were there. ;)

[ROBERT] TEXT: Let’s get some drinks.

 

Oh, and a winky-face too? Remi had an idea of what he getting at now- Robert didn’t use emojis all that frequently, and when he did it was either ironically or because he wanted something. Remi sat with his phone held tightly in his fist, thumb just barely off the screen as possible responses reeled through his head like credits rolling by at the end of a movie. About five minutes of silence passed by.

 

[ROBERT] TEXT: C’mon. Don’t leave me hanging.

[ROBERT] TEXT: We’ll have some fun.

 

Robert, come on, you’ve left Remi hanging before too. Sometimes the tables turn and you need a taste of your own medicine. But.. While that was true, Remi was weak to the brutish charm of that knife-wielding dad.

 

[REMI] TEXT: Fine.

 

There was hardly a few seconds before Robert texted back again.

 

[ROBERT] TEXT: I can’t even hear your voice and I already know what kind of mood you’re in.

[ROBERT] TEXT: Try and leave that salt in your house. Cool?

 

Remi grumbled and shook his head, looking away from his phone for a moment as he resisted the urge to tell Robert to fuck right off. He didn’t know what Remi was going through- he could be upset if he fucking wanted to. Remi let out a sigh and tried to remind himself the type of man Robert was, and the way he dealt with hurt feelings outside of his own. It wasn’t necessarily that he didn’t care, he just put on a mask of apathy in a solid 90% of his social interactions.

 

[REMI] TEXT: Whatever man. If u wanna hang we can, i’m at home.

 

[ROBERT] TEXT: Oh I know.

[ROBERT] TEXT: I’m outside.

[ROBERT] TEXT: Hurry up and get your ass out here.

 

What the hell, Robert? Remi couldn’t help but be a little offended by the fact that Robert was so damn certain that he’d win Remi over that he was already outside his house. Then again… Yeah, Robert was his neighbor, so getting outside his house wasn’t a struggle in any sense of the word, but- regardless, the point was that Robert knew what he wanted, and knew for a fact that he was going to get it. Remi didn’t respond to Robert’s next text message, instead just pulling himself up off the couch and stuffing his phone into his back pocket. Another short yawn pushed out of his mouth as he stretched out his back, grunting as the segments of his spine resonated little cracking sounds.

 

He ran his hands over his t-shirt, smoothing out some of the wrinkles so that he looked a little more presentable. He didn’t get it perfectly smooth, but… Wait, why did he care? Robert never fucking bothered to iron his clothes. Hell, sometimes Robert didn’t even bother to shower. He was getting much better about that, though, as he was in fact trying to improve his self-care habits. Remi was proud of him for that progress, and he was glad to see Robert growing, but he still was far behind Joseph or Craig’s extent of obsessive cleanliness. Then again, maybe those two were organized to the point of it not being healthy anymore. But that… that was a topic for another day.

 

Remi ran his hands through his hair, fixing his pompadour just a tad. It was a bit messy, not perfectly slicked back, but that was how it always was. Remi preferred it like that, actually. He always felt like the sloppy greaser hair paired with the well-groomed beard n’ mustache combo made for quite a handsome dad aesthetic. He did one last little check over himself before heading out the door, making sure to lock it as he walked out. He spotted Robert’s old red truck parked in his driveway, the soft hum of the engine drowning out the sound of crickets chirping and the smell of cigarette smoke filling his nose. He made eye contact with his mysterious companion just as he flicked a cigarette butt from the open window of his truck, letting it land on the concrete of Remi’s driveway. A smirk perked on his cheeks as he spotted Remi’s grimace.

 

“Dude.” Remi’s voice deep and blatantly laced with distaste.

 

“Dude what?” Robert retorted, “You don’t care that much about how your yard looks, anyway. Give it a day or two and the wind is gonna blow it into the grass, you’ll never see it again. Or you’ll pussy out and throw it away yourself.” The man shrugged and looked back at his steering wheel, thereby disregarding Remi and making an effort to put a pin in the conversation.

 

Remi climbed into the passenger seat of Robert’s truck and rolled his eyes. “Now just because you said that, I can never pick up a cigarette butt again.”

 

A small chuckle rumbled in Robert’s chest. Oh, he couldn’t resist but to respond again. “Only a pussy would be that afraid of being called a pussy.”

 

“You know what? Shut the fuck up.” Remi replied harshly, however still was a light even tone in his voice so that Robert would be able to tell he was joking. Of course, Rob did in fact receive the message, considering a rude sense of humor ran in that man’s very veins. Sarcasm and irony were the only things he needed to keep his heart beating, but not many people knew that. He’s gotta keep it hush-hush, if people knew his weakness they might start depriving him of opportunities to be a jackass.

 

Robert actually accommodated what Remi requested, falling silent as he pulled out of his neighbor’s driveway and started driving out of the neighborhood. After a solid ten, maybe fifteen, minutes of driving, Remi started to wonder where Robert was taking them. The path they were taking seemed awfully familiar, but… He just couldn’t seem to place where they were going. They’d been this way before, but it must have been so long ago that Remi’s memory was foggy. The temptation to ask Robert where they were going lingered on the tip of his tongue, burning like strong alcohol, but he chose to bite it back and keep quiet. He knew Robert appreciated silence, and more than that he appreciated when Remi trusted him. So, that’s what he’d try to do.

 

A little while longer, Robert pulled onto a dirt road heading up and around a hill. Okay… okay… This was looking more and more familiar, but some reason he still couldn’t place it. His brows furrowed as he surveyed the scenery, scoping out the trees and shrubs lining the sides of the roads. There was some dark, ominous vibe to this forest with the strangest comforting edge to it. It was really a strange aura to be picking up from a seemingly random patch of nature outside of town. Eventually, Robert pulled his truck up into a clearing at the top of the hill, overlooking… Oh, fuck. Fuck. Remi remembered all of this, he knew where they were now.

 

Robert had driven them up to the overlook he took them to on a date a long, long time ago. This is where Remi thought Robert was going to stab him, and then they ended up sitting together and whittling. That was when Remi first really got the impression of how harmless Rob was despite how he came across on the outside… After that night, Remi actually tried to whittle a few more times on his own- he never did all that well, definitely not as well as Robert, but he certainly tried. Amanda laughed at him a couple of times when he slipped up and cut his hands, only because of all the interesting strings of curse words that would leave his lips.

Once Robert’s truck came to a squeaky stop at the top of the hill, Remi spoke up. “I thought… Thought you said we were going to get drinks?” He asked with a quirked brow. Don’t get him wrong, being up here alone with Robert was a blessing, but he was finding himself awfully confused by this man’s intentions. Which wasn’t much an uncommon scenario, Robert was a difficult man to understand.

 

Robert grunted and unbuckled his seatbelt. “When did I say we’re not doing that?” He responded, reaching into the backseat to grab a full bottle of whiskey that was hidden from sight on the floorboard. Ooh, classy, warm alcohol stashed in his truck. He grinned at Remi and gestured to it with his free hand. “C’mon, let’s not waste time. We don’t have all that long before the sun comes up.” Robert then turned to pop open his door and slip out of his truck. Remi followed his lead, slamming his door behind him and keeping track of Robert as he walked over to the back of the truck and pulled down the tailgate. He set down the bottle of whiskey in the truck bed and then hauled himself up, taking a seat with his legs stretched out in front of him. He let out a sigh as he settled down, getting nice and comfortable in his position. A smug grin spread across his face as Remi sat next to him, loosely crossing his legs under him.

 

Well, now it was time for the bottle of Jack Daniel’s to introduce itself to the both of them. Robert twisted the bottlecap off and immediately knocked back a long gulp, exhaling loudly and licking his lips after mouth popped off the bottle. He then gestured for Remi to take the bottle, who he noticed had been watching him all the while. Mildly flustered now that they’d made eye contact, Remi grabbed the neck of the bottle and took a quick, gracious sip. He didn’t even begin to flinch at the burn of alcohol anymore, he’d become entirely numb to and adjusted to it. He cleared his throat and set down the bottle between the two of them, eyes now fixing on the view of the town off in the distance.

 

A heavy silence hung between them, but Remi expected as much. He was used to it by now, and quite frankly he didn’t mind it with Robert. With most other people, silence meant discomfort and anxiety, it made his skin crawl, but… With Robert, it meant just the opposite. His silence meant he was at peace, and while that was a terribly hard thing for Remi to get through his head, considering all his life he’d believed just the opposite. Somewhere deep down, Remi liked that Robert challenged those little traits that’d dug themselves into his subconscious.

 

“So…” It was Robert’s voice that interrupted the humming of the wind through the trees, which not only surprised but intrigued Remi. His eyes focused on his frie- partn- companion. Fuck, what even was Robert? No, no, right now wasn’t the time to think about that. Now was the time to focus on Robert’s lips, the words coming out of them. “Ya wanna tell me what had you all grumpy earlier?”

 

Well, that was… certainly a surprise. Remi knew somewhere in Robert, he cared about the people he loved, but he struggled to show it. It kindled some small, warm flame in his chest to see Robert try and show that he cared. “Oh, it… It was nothin’,” Remi shrugged. Frankly, Remi, you’re not helping. Robert is trying to help, and you need to buck up and let him or otherwise he’s going to go back to shutting you out. Both of you being emotionally reserved is eventually going to destroy any semblance of a relationship between the two of you.

 

Robert grumbled and took another long sip of whiskey. “You know I can see right through that bullshit, right?” He pressed, locking eyes with Remi and burning through him with his glare. “If you don’t wanna talk about it, just tell me. I get that. But I know it’s not nothing.”

 

With an uncomfortable clearing of his throat, Remi resisted the urge to look away. Breaking eye contact would imply weakness, distrust, or even discomfort, none of which he wanted to imply to Robert. “I, uh…” Remi sighed as he struggled to find the right words. Robert and his unfaltering intensity often made it hard to think straight. There were… Other things about the man that made it hard to think straight, but that stuff was beside the point right now. “It was just some little scuffle between me and Amanda, that’s all. I got kinda mad at her, and I guess.. I just don’t like gettin’ angry around her,” he shrugged. “I don’t want her to see that part of me. I try to leave that in the past best I can.”

 

Robert looked away, casting his eyes to the ground below them. The sound of the wind and small animals moving about the forest graced their ears again; Robert sat silently for a few moments, an intense stare on his face. “I get that,” he responded gruffly. “I’ve told you about me and Val. I used to be one hell of an awful parent, so I really do know what it’s like to hate getting upset at your kid. Every time Val and I argue, I remember all the shit I said to her when I was younger, angrier, and now… Well, I wish I could keep my mouth shut, but sometimes I act before I think.” At the end of his sentence, his eyes drifted back to meet Remi’s gaze. The shine in his eyes was… dim. Sad. Remi knew bringing up memories from Val’s childhood hurt Robert, and that made him faintly regret telling Robert the truth. But, then again, in the long run it was probably all for the best that Remi remained honest.

 

“You and me are kinda similar parents, y’know,” Remi expressed. He could tell that comment got on Robert’s nerves the second it crossed his lips, but Remi rushed to speak again before Robert cut him off. “--We both used to be really angry people, but now we’re tryin’ really hard not to be.” He heard Robert grumble, but he kept quiet and listened. “Sure, you’ve got a further ways to go than me, but you also had more shit packed on top’a your shoulders than I did. I guess… I had more forgiveness in me, more support, and you kinda held all that anger against yourself. You never let go because you’re stuck punishing yourself. I did that for a while, too, but… I had to stop. For Amanda.”

 

Shaking his head, Robert took another gulp of whiskey. Remi could tell by the way the liquid was moving in the bottle, his hands were suffering from a slight tremble. “Remi, I get that you’re trying to be comforting, but that just fucking stings,” he spat bitterly, “I already see that you stopped yourself for Amanda. I got that. I tried so goddamn hard for Val, but I just couldn’t. I was really just.. Just stuck, I guess. Every time I tried and failed, I let myself get worse. The deeper I dug the hole, the harder and harder it got to climb up.”

 

Remi tried his best not to cast his eyes away, but he couldn’t fight back the urge. He looked down at his hands, which were folded over one another in a way that allowed the upper hand to crack the knuckles of the lower hand. “Robert, I didn’t…-”

 

“I know you didn’t mean to turn this south. I know what you meant,” he replied bluntly, his tongue still tainted with a certain bitterness. God, the guilt welling up in Remi’s chest felt like someone had just kicked him in the ribs. Robert invited him out here most likely to have a good time and get away from his sorrows, and here he was, bringing them up and shoving them in his face like an idiot. “But, I guess…” A softer sigh left Robert’s mouth and Remi detected a smoother, softer tone on his lips. His eyes drifted back up the man’s somber face, focusing on him. “Things have gotten better. I can’t deny that. Val and I have been trying to patch things up from a distance, and my.. _Habits_.. Are getting less and less hard to deal with. Slowly, albeit.” Robert shrugged, then lifted the bottle of whiskey… But seemed to make some opposing decision before it got to his lips. He set it back down. “Do you know where I got the motivation to buck up and do all this shit?” He asked.

 

Oh no, there was some nasty nervous feeling eating at Remi’s gut. Maybe that was just the baked apple topped off with whiskey, but… He was almost certain it was mostly nervousness. “No. Where?”

 

“From you.” That… Wait… What the fuck? Remi was almost certain he’d somehow fallen asleep in the back of Robert’s truck and now he was dreaming about mushy, touchy-feely shit that would never happen. Thusly, he stayed silent. For far too long, even too long for the silence-appreciating man next to him. Robert glared at Remi with low brows and intense eyes, reading his expression to try to get through to what was in his head and figure out why he wasn’t saying anything. While Remi had become respectful of Robert’s enjoyment of silence, he also knew that on his own, Remi was a loud person. Talkative, emotional, and boisterous. It was… Uncharacteristic of him to be dead silent like this. Come to think of it, the look in his eyes wasn’t just vacant, it was… Lost. He was there, in this moment, but he wasn’t sure what he was doing nor what he was feeling. “Still alive over there?” Robert spoke up, nudging Remi’s shoulder.

 

Jolting, Remi’s eyes seemed to pop back into reality and the purple color in them became vibrant again. “I.. uh…” Remi hesitated, taking only another moment to compose himself. “Just wasn’t expecting that is all,” he expressed finally. Again, there was a pause. Robert didn’t intervene this time, simply waited for Remi to speak again. “Like… I know you’re not all that into emotional stuff, and you prefer things to be simple and easy, but Robert. You gotta know that hearing that meant a lot to me.”

 

“Yeah? I’m glad,” by the sound of Robert’s voice, one would think he was indifferent or detached from the conversation. “Well, you mean a lot to me. I guess that evens it out, doesn’t it?” He shrugged. There was so little emotion to the words Robert was saying, and to an outside it may look like he couldn’t give less of a shit, but Remi knew he cared. Robert could be a sarcastic, ironic, lying asshole, but he would never lie about something like this. Additionally, the intensity on his face, the grim expression… It pushed the point further that Robert was being genuine. Feeling immense things such as this often didn’t leave a blissful happiness on Robert’s face, but rather left him reeling as he tried to accept his own emotions.

 

Despite Robert not being the most emotionally vulnerable person in the world, Remi had so much so say and desired to open up. “Robert, I..-”

 

“Hold that thought,” Robert interrupted, holding up a single finger and pressing it against Remi’s lips. “I have something to say first. I’m gonna tell you why I brought you up here.” Remi nodded silently, and with that response Robert retracted his hand. There was a moment of silence, Robert drew in a long breath and closed his eyes as he did so… Such a dramatic set-up for what he was about to say, Remi had half a mind that he was about to- “I brought you here to kill you. You know far too much about me, I can’t let it go on any longer. One day, you could tell the world my secrets… And, for reasons unknown to you, that will destroy our country as a whole. I’m telling you now because I love you.” Yeah, yeah that is exactly where Remi thought this was going. Despite knowing Robert’s personality, he still felt his chest tighten with “oh my god is he serious” anxiety. But it released within seconds as he continued, “I’m just kidding.”

 

Remi couldn’t help but interrupt. “About which part?” It seemed Robert was caught entirely off guard by that question- perhaps adding the _I love you_ to the end was a tad too much. Neither of them could tell which was joking at this point.

 

Clearing his throat, Robert elected to completely ignore that. “...I brought you up here to tell you something really important. About us,” he addressed. It seemed Robert was having a hard time maintaining eye contact, glancing between Remi and the whiskey bottle between them. Whatever it was that he was trying to say, it was visually appearing to be difficult to get out. Luckily for Remi, that was a bit comforting, considering he was nervous as all hell too. “You remember what I told you at Amanda’s graduation, right?” Well, of course he did. Remi could not and would forget something like that. “Well… You should remember my response wasn’t a _no._ If you don’t remember it like that, I’m reminding you now that my response was that I needed time.” A swarm of butterflies flew around Remi’s stomach at such a speed that he was worried they might pour out his mouth. “And I… I’ve been thinking lately. About a lot of things. About how I’ve changed. Val says I need more time, but I’m a grown-ass man and I can determine that for myself.” Robert drew in a long, shaky breath.. Taking a moment to compose himself. His eyes locked on Remi, a heavy intensity weighing down his stare. “I think- no, no… I _know_ I’m ready now.”

 

Processing, Remi stayed entirely silent and was quite frankly in shock. He couldn’t even begin to grasp what Robert was saying- he’d spent so much time preparing for the worst outcome, Robert never reciprocating his feelings, but… Dear God, this was exactly what he wanted. Reality almost never panned out to be what he fantasized about, so this was- unheard of. He often told himself he was being too selfish in hoping that Robert would want to be with him, but… Ah, who knows. Maybe it wasn’t selfish at all to want what his heart yearned for so long as he didn’t pressure it on Robert. Without realizing it, Remi had trapped himself in a state of silence for all too long, staring blankly down, seemingly at Robert’s chest.

 

“...Remi?” Robert’s voice snapped him out of his daze, catching him off guard and triggering a soft gasp. His eyes shot back up to Robert’s face, softening from their widened state as they focused on Robert’s surprisingly gentle gaze. The look in his eyes… Man, Remi had only seen that once before, and that was on their third date together. The moment that Robert confessed his feelings, the way he was hurting, his eyes melted in this same way. It was shocking, really, how the most apathetic, emotionally unreachable dad in Maple Bay had the most loving look in his eyes. A book can’t be read by it’s cover, you know? Regardless, Remi was mesmerized and comforted by his eye contact.

 

But… He had to manage words out of his mouth. Quick. “Robert, Jesus Christ, I…” He took a long breath, trying his best to quell the nervousness in his gut. Not to mention hopefully get his heart to stop beating so goddamn fast. “I suck at words, but God that’s important. Like, important to me. I can’t-- Can’t even begin to understand everything my brain wants to tell you right now. There’s a lot I could say, but the words are all sorta jumbled.” He paused again. “I mean- if this is your way of asking me if we can actually be something, my answer is yes. It was yes and it’ll always be yes. You’re… You’re nothing like I ever imagined, and yeah you’re sort of an ass, but so am I, and you’re so fuckin’ strong, and you’re everything I-”

 

Before Robert let him ramble on and on until he was out of breath, he grabbed Remi by the collar of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. At first, Remi felt like his heart stopped, caught off guard, but he quickly melted into it and closed his eyes. God, he missed the feeling of Robert’s lips on his along with the gentle scratch of his stubble. Remi could feel Robert’s gentle breaths colliding with his skin, the smell of whiskey ghosting past his nose all the while. Kissing Robert had a slight burn to it, just like it did the first time, from the thin film of alcohol left on his mouth. Strangely enough, Remi absolutely loved that. It was a reminder that it was undeniably Robert who he was with, and it gave him a sense of comfort that this tastes and smells of this man were already so familiar.

 

Remi could have stayed like that for hours, trading tongues between each other’s mouths and whimpering every time Robert dared to bite his lower lip. One of Robert’s hands moved to hold him by his waist, pulling him in closer and pressing his fingertips into his skin. It was blissful as hell, and somehow thrilling at the same time. But, alas… All good things must come to an end. Robert pulled himself away, opening his own eyes only to be met with Remi’s awfully dreamy gaze. A smirk tugged at the corners of his lips and he caressed one hand to Remi’s scruffy cheek. The blush on Remi’s face was awfully obvious by now.

 

“So… Are we, like, you know…” Remi’s voice was quieter than usual, as if breathless.

 

Robert couldn’t help but let out a small, endearing chuckle. “Do you actually have to ask that?” Remi rolled his eyes playfully, leaning forward to connect their lips again as his craving for affection ravaged his brain, but Robert dodged. Remi felt his heart sink down into his stomach, and concern laced his expression. He didn’t say a word, Robert simply spoke once he saw the effect his actions had. “I’m not rejecting you again, don’t panic,” he established first and foremost. “I’m just… Making sure of something real quick. I, uh, get carried away sometimes. I’m getting carried away now. I just wanna hear that you want… uh… me.”

 

Again, Remi was shocked. How many times did Robert plan on surprising him tonight? Naturally, Remi knew consent was a concern of Robert’s, considering he wasn’t a goddamn bad person, but… Hm. It was just the effort to communicate, the concern, the compassion, it was all very telling of Robert. His apathy was a facade, a coping mechanism; deep down he may have selfish habits, but those he loved still mattered tremendously to him. “I mean… Robert… You know the answer to that already,” Remi replied, trying to be his usual flirtatious self and quirking a brow at him.

 

From the look on his face, Robert didn’t appreciate that response. “That’s not a clear answer. You know what I need to hear.”

 

Understood. Remi nodded briefly, “Yes, Robert. I want you.”

 

“Glad to hear it, babe,” were the last words out of that man’s mouth before his lips were back on Remi’s, kissing him harder and with considerably more passion. I mean… The first time, of course there was passion, but this time there was something deeper. Something with more yearning and more desire. One of his hands drifted into Remi’s hair and softly pulled at the strands, registering a little wince from the taller, bearded man that quickly became a shaky breath colliding with Robert’s lips. Robert grinned through their kiss, slipping his free hand underneath Remi’s shirt and running his calloused fingertips up the length of his back. Remi shivered at the gentle touch grazing his spine, and the pride in Robert’s mannerisms only grew broader.

 

Soon enough, Robert lost interest in Remi’s lips, but this time Remi wasn’t in the least bit disappointed when he broke their kiss. Robert’s lips trailed down to his neck, kissing gently along his skin and earning a nice shiver out of his larger partner. Oh, how Robert missed having Remi in this level of intimacy… The last time they were in a situation like this, they didn’t make it far before Remi stopped him to confront him about coping with his emotions through sex, but… Well, now there was no reason to ask Robert to stop, and as you can imagine stopping was the last thing Remi wanted.

 

Remi was terribly entranced by Robert’s touch, and didn’t realize how much of a whimpering mess he was becoming the more Robert kissed and occasionally bit down on his neck. The few times that Robert’s teeth connected with his skin, pulling softly at his flesh, Remi let out a soft gasp that only encouraged Robert to bite harder. Yeah, he was definitely going to have some hickies left over by tomorrow morning, but that didn’t bother him in the least. He somewhat enjoyed having marks left behind to remind him of the night before.

Having had enough of feeling up the strong muscles outlining Remi’s back, Robert slid his hand out of his shirt and went directly to his inner thigh, grabbing down tightly. To his surprise, Remi jolted and let out a breathy moan, after which both of their eyes snapped open and met one another. There was a… Definite pause. Remi’s face was flushed a rosy color, and Robert looked about as proud as a man could possibly be. Finally, one of them spoke up. “The reactions are hot and all, but…” Robert smirked and raised a brow, “Are you really just gonna sit back and take it like that?”

 

Oh? Was that… a challenge? All of the sudden, Remi’s sense of dominance was awoken and he was reminded that him and Robert both had a complex of wanting to be the alpha in every situation. How would he ever forget that? It was just that, well, in this case here, with Robert feeling him up, he sort of let go of his pride for a moment just to savor the affection. Every man has his weakness, and sometimes for Remi it’s letting Robert do whatever he pleases to him. But- if Robert wanted to play it that way, so be it. Remi loved the pursuit of achieving dominance regardless, and… pssh… As if he was going to stay submissive the entire time anyway.

 

Remi didn’t say a word back, simply put a hand on Robert’s chest and shoved him off. His partner’s back slammed against the side of the truck bed and he grunted, sitting up and adjusting his posture thereafter. The first emotion on Robert’s face came across as offended and surprised, but he eased into it as Remi’s hands immediately found their place on Robert’s leather jacket. Ah, alright, he saw what Remi was getting at. He played along and helped as Remi shuffled his jacket off his arms, tossing it carelessly off to the side. Next, he relaxed as he anticipated Remi’s hands creeping under his shirt to hoist it off his torso, but… Oh, well, it looked like Remi had a different idea.

 

Clutching his hands to the collar of Robert’s shirt, he and Remi shared a second of fierce eye contact, demonstrating the fire in Remi’s eyes, before… Well, Remi knew he had to show off his impeccable dad strength at some point. Mustering all of the power built up in his tree-trunk arms, Remi pulled his hands away from each other, holding tight onto the thin red fabric of Robert’s t-shirt. To his own surprise, and with a surge of pride rushing through his veins, the next sound to grace Remi’s ears was that of fibers ripping away from one another. Oh, thank God, he was so worried he was going to start doing this and then fail to tear his shirt. All was well though, and Robert seemed to be super into it.

 

The hardass dad under his hands sat obediently as Remi tore his shirt down the middle, his eyes scanning Remi’s large biceps as they flexed in the efforts of splitting an old, but still well made shirt. Jesus… Robert bit his lip and just let Remi do as he pleased, enjoying the show and fantasizing about watching Remi get into a fist fight with someone. How could he not think about that, knowing about Remi’s past and taking notice of him having arms like _that?_ He thought to himself that seeing Remi hurdle forward, fist pounding into someone’s jaw, would be one of the absolute sexiest things on the face of the Earth. Hell, he’d let Remi punch him in the face and he’s still be swooning.

 

Soon enough, Remi had split the shirt all the way down the middle, and there was something terribly satisfying about freeing that last strand of fabric from itself and watching the shirt fall open. Remi sighed with satisfaction, his eyes shamelessly admiring Robert’s body. He was about to slide his hands up under the sleeves of Robert’s shirt to get it all the way off, but his partner’s voice made him pause.

 

“Dude,” Remi’s eyes looked up to Robert’s face. “I’m so hard because you did that.”

 

...Well, shit, that was quite a compliment. There was a moment of hesitation, but like hell Remi was going to let Robert see that he was a tad nervous. “Guess I shouldn’t keep ya waitin’ that long then, huh?” Remi purred before resuming the process of shuffling Robert’s shirt off his shoulders. Naturally, Robert allowed it and helped him along, shrugging the useless piece of fabric off and dropping it on top of his jacket. Remi had no hesitation moving onto his next target, which was the belt holding Robert’s jeans to his hips. Robert sat back and watched Remi through hazy eyes as he unbuckled the belt, taking a few seconds more than he should have given his hands were so damn shaky. Trembling aside, point was that he got the belt undone, and could move right on to cracking open the cold one known as Robert Small’s pants.

 

As Remi wrestled the firm denim off of Robert’s hips, then down and off his thighs, it came to his attention that Robert wasn’t just making a snarky comment earlier. There was legitimately a noticeable- and quite frankly big- bulge in his boxers. Remi swallowed back the nervousness in his throat. Like.. He’d seen a lot of Robert before, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t peek at his pants from time to time, but nevertheless he’d never actually gotten this close to actually getting him naked. After all, the one time they were about to fuck, it ended up turning into a deep and emotional conversation. Fuck. Fuck he was really impressive though.

 

It seemed that Robert had caught wind of Remi’s hesitation. “Getting nervous, huh?” He asked with an awfully amused chuckle.

 

“Hah! You wish. Me being nervous would just feed your ego,” Remi retorted, trying his best to play it off like it was all cool and he wasn’t getting butterflies in his stomach. He wanted to come across like he knew exactly what he was doing, he was the alpha dad, the big strong top who isn’t intimidated by anything. Robert simply quirked a brow at him, staring at him with a smug grin and didn’t bother to say a word. Remi would get the message, words or no. The itch of nervousness got even worse- to a nearly unbearable extent. Robert could see right through him, and by the look on his face that much was obvious. “Shut up,” he said impulsively, becoming awfully flustered and too much so to think straight.

 

Robert stifled a laugh, “I didn’t say anything!”

 

Alright, now Remi was embarrassed, which just caused his face to flush even fucking more. “Well- now shut up!” He responded, at which Robert’s delightful laugh got louder and became more of a silly giggle. God, his laugh was so radiant and wonderful- it wasn’t pure and cute like some of the other dads’ laughs, but his was.. Charming, unique, adorable in its own way. Somehow the natural gruffness beneath Robert’s tone added to the laugh and made it all the more distinct, which Remi adored. The more unique, the weirder, the wilder, the better. He got lost in listening to Robert chuckle, and watching him squirm around under him, and couldn’t help but let out a silly little snort and laugh with him.

 

These two dorks, these two “ _I’m such a badass look at me”_ type dads sat in the back of Robert’s truck, one with their pants down, and they were laughing like fools. It seemed the more one of them giggled, the more the other giggled in return, and by the time this fest of laughs calmed down, Remi had his face lying against Robert’s belly, all the whole Rob’s hands had found their way into Remi’s hair.

 

Once they stopped actually laughing, and were left sighing blissfully, Remi spoke up. “This ain't usually how hookups go for you, is it?” Which, of course, registered yet another chuckle from Robert. This one was awfully brief, however.

 

“No, but you're different,” he responded, gently sifting his fingertips through Remi’s hair. “You're not… just a body to me. I don't wanna fuck you just for the high. This is, uh, more than that.” Robert cleared his throat uncomfortably as if this wasn’t easy for him to translate into words.

 

Without saying a word in response, Remi pulled himself up off Robert’s abdomen and placed a soft kiss on his lips. It only lasted a few moments, but it was enough to leave an adorably dreamy look on Robert’s face. Not like anything he’d seen from mean ol’ Mr.Small before. “I know it is, honey.” There was a moment of silence from both of them immediately following those words, but it wasn’t uncomfortable nor was it born of tension. It was nothing but tenderness and comfort, of understanding and simple desire to be in one another’s company.

 

“...Alright, touchy feely moment over. Get my pants off, please,” Robert requested bluntly. Naturally, Remi was more than happy to accommodate. He hooked his fingers into the belt loops of Robert’s jeans tugged them down his legs, yanking and pulling until they were scrunched up at his ankles. He then, quite carelessly, pulled each of his shoes off and tossed them off into another corner of the truck bed. They made little _clunk_ sounds as they hit the metal, which caused a resounding echo through the body of the vehicle. But, hey, making noise was no problem here. Nobody was around, except maybe the Dover Ghost. But… He was welcome to watch.

 

Once Remi had his pants off, his next target was those black boxers. Oh, they had no hope left, they were gonna get taken off. There was a momentary glance of Remi’s eyes up at Robert’s face, but it didn’t linger at all- Remi had better things to do. Remi grabbed the waistband and roughly pulled them down, sliding them off his legs and not giving it a second thought before his hands were on Robert’s bare thighs. He grabbed tightly and slid his palms up the length of his muscles, grinning at the little shaky gasp that cascaded from Robert’s lips.

 

Remi looked up at his partner with a proud grin, at which Robert grimaced and glared with a definitive blush on his face. “I don’t like being the only one naked, you know. Strip or I’m gonna grab my boxers.”

 

Oh, fuck, that was quite the threat. Remi’s hands peeled off of Robert’s thighs and gripped the bottom hem of his own t-shirt, slipping it off with ease. “You don’t have to say that twice,” Remi said with a moderately nervous chuckle. Robert sat back and simply watched, crossing his arms over his chest and shamelessly eyeballing Remi up and down. His body wasn’t super cut and toned like Craig, but God he was muscular as hell. He had biceps the size of a kid’s head, pecs big enough to lay between like two pillows, and from the look of the muscles down his stomach Robert was damn certain Remi could pick him up and throw him with ease.

 

“Hottest dad in Maple Bay,” Robert commented, making brief eye contact with his brand new boyfriend as he struggled with his jeans.

 

Remi looked up at him with a quirked brow. “Wow, Robert, way to talk about yourself,” he said sarcastically, knowing just fine that Robert aimed that remark at him. He just wanted to play around and remind his partner that he couldn’t be all serious and brooding during sex. Robert scoffed and rolled his eyes, shaking his head in faux disappointment. Remi was quite a card, but Robert enjoyed it all nonetheless. Albeit, occasionally Remi got on his nerves, but on the whole he was worth being around. While Robert continued to savor the body in front of him, Remi shuffled his tight jeans off his hips and nudged them down his thighs. He seemed to struggle and almost fall over in the bed of his truck as he fought with his pants, but… One way or another, he got them off.

 

Next thing was those those goddamn awful boxers. They had a cute little repetitive print of eggplants all over them, which, in Robert’s opinion, made them the absolute worst. But for some weird, terrible reason, he still loved seeing them hugging Remi’s fine ass and showcasing that impressive bulge. Which… Speaking of… Just seeing that behind a veil of fabric was kind of a disrespect to- Oh, wait, spoke too soon. There the boxers go. Damn, and Robert thought his size was impressive… Ah, then again, Remi was significantly taller than him, so he probably just had a genetic bonus. Yeah, that’s all it was.

 

Remi sat back against his bent legs and gestured for Robert to come in closer with one hand. Robert smirked and played along, crawling over to him and getting oh-so teasingly close to his lips as a lead-up for a kiss. He even just barely felt Remi’s warm breath cascade against his mouth, the thought of their soft lips meeting filled his thoughts, but before fantasy could become reality Remi’s hands were on his shoulders. He gasped and grunted as Remi shoved him down onto his back, pinning him to the truck bed with himself on top. He landed with a pretty considerable thud, but, uh… That surge of power and dominance from Remi was such a fucking turn-on, he didn’t even care this shoulder blades ached. He spread his thighs wider apart and allowed Remi to get himself situated between his legs. Remi settled in like he shamelessly belonged there, setting his hands on either side of Robert’s head while his partner’s arms wrapped around him while his nails grazed his skin.

 

There was yet another pause between them, a moment in time where everything seemed to stop and the fast-paced affection froze. Their eyes met, and Remi couldn’t seem to feel himself breathe anymore as he focused on those deep brown eyes. Robert was just… God, how did he get so lucky? To most, Robert didn’t seem like much, he just seemed like trouble and heartbreak. You really can’t judge this book by a cover with Robert, his heart was never on his sleeve, but you better believe that it was there. He had more heart than anyone could ever imagine, it was just not an easy task figuring out how to reach it.

 

“You ready?” Remi asked quietly, shifting his hips again and pressing the head of his dick up against Robert’s ass. His lover’s back arched a bit and he was pulled even closer when Robert wrapped his legs around Remi’s hips, locking their bodies together.

 

Robert leaned up to gently peck his lips, then let his head relax against the truck bed and smirked up at him. “Always.”

 

Starting off slow, Remi drew one hand back to hold the base of his cock, holding it still as he pushed the head in. Robert let out the most adorable whimper, hips already shifting around underneath him all the while he turned his head to the side in a failed effort to hide the expression on his face. God, the way Robert looked when he was bottoming was the most mesmerizingly sexy thing he’d ever seen- who would ever even believe Robert Small would bottom at all? Remi bit his lip through a smirk and took his hand off his member to latch his hand onto Robert’s hip bone, holding him tight as he eased his hips forward, sinking in deeper and deeper.

 

“F-fucking christ-!” Robert let out a shaky, breathy moan and couldn’t help but dig his nails into Remi’s back, leaving tiny red divots in his skin. Damn, the pressure from his jagged, obviously bitten off nails kinda hurt, but… Remi liked it. A lot. He found himself wanting Robert to make a little more effort to hurt him. And how the hell would he earn something like that? Well…

 

Remi leaned in close and started to kiss his neck softly at first, all the while rocking his hips back and forth at a gentle pace. Robert sighed below him, tilting his head back to give Remi a better angle to love on his neck. But, oh, this was just a front- without a warning, he clenched Robert’s skin between his teeth and bit down relentlessly. Robert groaned and yelped, shivering as Remi started to suck at the bite he’d left on his partner’s neck. All the while, he drew his hips back a tad before aggressively bucking back into him, as a result earning the most gorgeous moan of his name.

Ah, but… He still wasn’t getting what he wanted. He repeated that process of thrusting into Robert over and over again, picking both his pace and intensity. Soon enough, Robert was a whimpering, cursing mess- every other sound out of his mouth was a foul line of curse words. Oh my, my, what a sailor’s mouth this man had. Remi just kept on doing what he was doing, demonstrating his ability to maintain control all the while Robert’s neck became a blank canvas only to be filled with dark magenta hickies.

 

Soon enough, Robert’s thighs were trembling and as were his hands. As they loosened their grip on his shoulder blades, plucking themselves out of the shallowly bleeding marks they’d dug into Remi’s skin, they started to drag their way down Remi’s back. In their wake, his nails left pinkish streaks of damaged skin. Oh, fuck yes, that was exactly what Remi wanted. To show that he was loving Robert’s decision to use his little claws, he let out a low growl and moaned into the crook of his neck. “Babe… If I don’t see those scratches in the mornin’, you’re gonna have to do better next time,” he said lowly and teasingly.

 

Robert took that as a challenge, and reached his hands back up to grab Remi at his shoulders. “You should’ve let me keep my knife on me,” he murmured in a threateningly attractive tone of voice.

 

“Next time,” Remi responded. Robert may have just intended that sarcastically, but Remi took it literally, and Robert was completely into it at this point. Possible knife kinks aside, Robert reoriented his focus and started to tear his nails down Remi’s back, this time making sure to press his fingertips down harder and applying significantly more pressure. He heard Remi moan and felt him shiver, as well as pull out further only to thrust back in harder. Which, naturally, beckoned another moan from Robert’s lungs.

 

You know, life really does have a funny way of flipping on its head, doesn’t it? One second you’re arguing with your daughter while eating baked apples and the next you’re fucking your crush in the bed of his old pickup truck. Life’s weird, but life’s good. Sometimes you have to stop holding onto all these heavy expectations, and do nothing more than let life take you where it wants to. After all, if it’s meant to be, it will be, right? Huh. Maybe… Maybe now wasn’t the time to get lost in shallow philosophy, though. Remi brought his focus back down onto the super hot guy he was balls-deep in.

 

“Why the fuck did you slow down?” Robert growled, thusly bringing to Remi’s attention that by getting all thoughtful, he neglected his responsibility to absolutely raw Robert. He quickly snapped back into reality and gave Robert a few kisses along his jawline as a makeshift apology.

 

Grumbling, Robert continued to wreak havoc on Remi’s back with his nails. “Dunno, maybe just to tease you,” Remi replied with a low chuckle before starting to pick his pace back up. His thrusts were a little slower, but that was no issue because he was pulling out further and pushing back in deeper. With each relentless push and pull of his hips, it seemed like Robert just got louder and louder…

 

Robert’s breathy sounds were far from high-pitched and cute, very unlike your typical bottom, and rather were gruff and akin to growls. But, hey, that was sorta sexy in its own way. Robert was intimidating and aggressive in every form, like a predatory animal, and Remi bought right into it and played along. He liked the idea that Robert wasn’t gentle, and that he fought for dominance, it gave them a much more exciting dynamic and gave Remi more of a challenge. Of course, as we all know, Remi loved a good challenge. There was no better feeling than coming out on top, especially when that meant _literally_ being on top.

 

Abruptly, Robert interrupted his own moans and gasps to speak. “What am I to you?” He asked in a tone of voice that was borderline threatening, if not just straight-up threatening. At first… Remi was a little confused by the question, not to mention taken aback. He wasn’t particularly sure why Robert would ask something like that in a time like this, it seemed a little intimate and emotional. Additionally, he unintentionally slowed his pace again as he started to actually consider Robert’s question… Hm, what kind of answer was Robert even looking fo- “Hey, don’t lose stamina on me now,” Robert’s voice met Remi’s ears again, and he was reminded to keep a steady rhythm in his hips. Fucking was first priority, thinking was second. Still, with that taken into account, Remi felt the need to answer Robert’s question.

 

“Uh…” Remi’s voice was shaky and quite breathless. “You’re… My… Boyfriend?” Remi answered, obviously very unsure of what he was saying. Not because he wasn’t sure if Robert was his lover, no, but because he wasn’t sure if that was actually the answer Robert wanted. By the way Robert groaned under him and rolled his eyes, he could tell he didn’t respond correctly.

 

“No shit, really?” Robert replied sarcastically, having to speak quickly as a whimper pushed its way out of his chest immediately following. “I mean.. What am I… to-” he paused and let out a growl under his voice. “Christ. Just call me something filthy.”

 

Ohhhhh, that’s what he was getting at. Alright, Remi understood now, and felt a little dumb that he didn’t figure that out on his own. Okay, now was the time for Remi to dig down into the depths of his vocabulary and pull out some super sexy things to call Robert. He went through a couple options in his head-- the most obvious were slut and whore, but… Eh, those get old, they’re a little too overused. Too unoriginal. Perhaps adding another word to the beginning would spice things up, like, per se, cumslut. Hm. Nah, Remi didn’t like the sound of that one. Wait! Wait, ooh, he thought he had one.

 

Although, the only issue now was that Remi was finding himself a bit nervous. What if… What if Robert didn’t like what he called him? Or, dear lord, what if what Remi said was so bad and embarrassing that Robert laughed at him? How would he ever live that down? There were so many things that could go wrong here, but… Ah, you can’t live in fear. Sometimes you have to buck up and call your partner dirty names, that’s life. Remi sucked in a deep breath and lunged into the situation head-first. He followed his first impulsive instinct, which was to take one hand and grip it tightly around Robert’s neck.

 

Robert gasped and moaned, his face flushing as he began to realize just how much he loved the feeling of Remi’s fist clenching around his throat. His eyes looked up into Remi’s, desperate for attention… “You wanna know what you are to me?” Remi’s voice was practically a snarl, low and daunting. “You’re an obedient little bitch to my cock.”

 

Fuck. Fuck was that good eno-... Mission: Success. Robert’s back arched against the truck bed, a loud moan yelling out Remi’s name leaving his lips all the while. He gripped as tightly as he could onto Remi’s shoulder blades, shaking like a leaf as he came, making a mess on his own stomach. He panted and trembled, loosening all his muscles at once and unwrapping his legs from around Remi’s waist. He relaxed and let out a long, pleasured sigh… But, there was still some unfinished business.

 

He let Remi keep up his rhythm, savoring each moan and shaky breath until he eventually reached his climax, at which point he leaned down to pepper kisses all along Robert’s neck. It was kinda nice already being finished, actually, and just getting to watch Remi; this way he could really focus on his partner instead of being wrapped up in all the ecstasy buzzing around in his head. He got to familiarize himself with exactly what he sounded like, looked like, acted like. Getting to know every detail of Remi was something Robert treasured immensely.

 

Once Remi finished, he immediately let himself go limp and lay on top of Robert like he was a big, muscular, hairy pillow. Robert grunted under Remi’s weight, but he wouldn’t mention it. He could handle it. He let his hands gently rest on Remi’s shoulder blades, and eventually he started to gently rub his back, which registered a calm sigh from Remi. They stayed like that, lying in each other’s embrace with nothing but the moon, the stars, and the forest around them for quite a while… Man, not to be a total cliche, but this situation really couldn’t get any better. Not only did Remi get Robert all to himself in the place he fell in love with Robert the first time, but he got to exchange affection between their bodies in a way he’d only previously fanaticized about. Nothing in the world mattered right now other than enjoying the way Robert’s body heat mingled with his.

 

They remained in silence for a while, focusing on the sound of one another’s breathing as they came down off their highs. Remi could feel the rhythm of Robert’s heart beating, and he swore his started to beat in perfect sync with it.

 

To Remi’s surprise, he wasn’t the one that broke the silence. “So… Was I worth the wait?” Robert asked, the tone in his voice indistinguishable between sarcasm and genuineness.

 

Remi replied impulsively, speaking before he thought. “Are you shitting me?” He asked, a soft and warm chuckle barely audible under his tone. Robert’s brows furrowed and he shot Remi a glare, at which point Remi took the hint and spoke up again. “Yeah. Yeah, you were.” Again, they fell into silence thereafter, but… Something about that question Robert asked really got Remi caught up in his thoughts. He couldn’t manage keeping his mouth shut, he had to speak up and get his thoughts out into the air. “...And, you know, it’s like- not just your body that was worth it. I dunno if that’s what you were asking about, but I just wanna let you know, it’s… The whole package that’s worth it, y’know?” Robert quirked a brow and shot him a playful smirk. “No, I don’t mean _that_ package. I mean- yes, that was worth it too, but that’s.. Uh.. beside the point. What I’m tryin’ to say is that I was in it this whole time for you, Robert Small, the entire human being, brain and all, not just your super hot bod. I seem shallow sometimes, but I ain’t. Not in this case.”

 

Once Remi concluded his little speech, him and Robert shared a long several moments of eye contact. Robert’s eyes… They were dark, but they were so rich and vibrant with color regardless. There was so much to be seen in dark brown eyes, so much depth and so much mystery; they were endless, bottomless pools of color. Sometimes Remi would get so lost in them it was as if he was at the bottom of the ocean and couldn’t tell which way was up. He didn’t mind that, though… He’d gladly let himself drown in Robert’s eyes. It’d be a peaceful way to go. He’d feel safe and comfortable, contrary to what most people would think you’d feel in the situation of losing yourself in Robert’s gaze. Yet again, as it’s been said before, Robert isn’t what he seems to be.

 

“...I get what you’re saying,” Robert spoke up softly; his words were brief but the tone in his voice implied compassion and understanding. Before Remi could say a word in response, he took the liberty of leaning up and connecting their lips. This kiss was different- it wasn’t rough or intensely passionate. It was soft, gentle, heart-meltingly tender. Just as he expected, that shut Remi up without a doubt. He held the kiss for an unknown amount of time- both of them got entirely lost in the sensation of meeting one another’s lips.

 

Robert pulled back eventually, though, and their eyes met yet again. Robert smiled sweetly up at Remi. “Let’s get outta here. It won’t be long until the sun comes up,” he expressed. Actually, it seemed that neither of them had noticed yet, but the sun was already beginning to crest over the horizon. Eh, they’d figure that out on their own sooner or later. Remi nodded at Robert’s suggestion and pulled up and off of him, sitting up and beginning to stretch his arms over his head.

 

Sighing and grunting in the process, Robert pulled himself up into a sitting position as well. He ran one hand through his ruffled hair and tried to straighten it up at least a little bit, not that it would matter if it was fixed up or not anyway. Robert cleared his throat, glancing over at his partner as he sorted out which clothes were his. “Hey, I got a suggestion for you,” Robert said to Remi, catching his partner’s attention. Remi quirked a brow and gave him a modest smile.

 

“Oh? And what’s that?” He inquired.

 

Robert leaned over to just briefly kiss Remi’s forehead and run the backs of his knuckles against his cheek. “Let me come back to your place and sleep there.”

 

The sounded like an absolute dream. Was this still reality, or was Remi actually asleep, making all of this up in his head? Like… Are we sure this is all real? This was far too good to be real. But, that aside, there was no way in hell Remi could decline. “Sounds like a plan to me, sugar.” The smile on Remi’s face matched the compassion in his eyes, adding up to be one hell of a starstruck, loving expression.

 

Soon enough he’d face that this was in fact reality, and you better believe that made him the happiest man in Maple Bay.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!! This ended up being way more emotional than I first intended, but I'm not exactly mad about it. Tell me what you think!


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